F. Scott Fitzgerald once said there are no second acts in American lives. However, after having spent 20 years in the IT industry, serving in various roles from system administration to network engineer (10 of which have been in education), I’ve recently decided that my second act should be as a freelance writer covering the investor's view of the technology industry. My background in engineering gave me what I consider strong analytical skills. My 15 years of trading and investing gives me the experience to assess equities and appraise their value. I am a Warren Buffett disciple that bases investment decisions on the quality of a company's management, its growth prospects, return on equity and price-to-earnings ratio. I employ conservative strategies to increase capital while also keeping a watchful eye on macro-economic events to mitigate downside risk.

Why Walmart Is Not Evil For Opening On Thanksgiving, Give It A Break

Who died and made you the authority on business principles? This was my response in a recent discussion with a family member in discussing the state of retail giant Walmart. It seems although I have no personal interest in the company, I continue to come to its defense. As far as I’m concerned, the company has become too easy of a target.

What bothers me is the idea that a scarlet letter has to be immediately attached to anyone with enough audacity to publicly say anything positive about the company. It’s beginning to get old. When Walmart is not being attacked for claims over low wages, it is being punished for what is perceived as undermining U.S. manufacturing – It all depends on what day it is. Walmart does not kill off “mom and pop” shops – they kill themselves. Anyone with enough business sense should understand this. However, why let a good opportunity for some “righteous anger” slip away.

It’s Thanksgiving – Thanks for Shopping

However, aside from the fact that these arguments often get stale, over and over again, they are grossly based on hypocrisy. The same people that toss insults at Walmart can’t stay out of its stores for the convenience it brings. Still, this time around the company is being loathed and finds itself on the receiving end of increased backlash for its decision to open its doors on Thanksgiving. At the risk of sounding insensitive – so what! I don’t see what the big deal is.

However, over 30,000 people do as they have all signed an online petition asking the company to reverse its decision and close on Thanksgiving. However, Walmart’s plan is to open after 8PM – long after every one has eaten and certainly after second and third portions have had enough time to be digested. Still this is nothing new as the company also opened on Thanksgiving of last year – except this time it wants to open two hours earlier. Again, I ask where is the crime?

The petition asserts that Walmart is disregarding the needs of its employees and that the company can afford to allow them the time to be spend with their families. But does this make Walmart evil for providing employment in an economy already ravaged by lost jobs? What’s more, Walmart is not the only retailer that plans to open on thanksgiving in preparation for Black Friday. Other retailers such as Target, Kmart as well as Toys R Us also plan to take advantage of early shoppers. Yet it is Walmart that is considered evil for this decision.

Bottom Line

As you’re walking into a Walmart try to remember how difficult things were at the height of our country’s recent recession. With Walmart’s low prices, it’s hard to imagine if there was any other company that was more instrumental in helping Americans manage their household budgets. Still, the self-appointed moral figures on American business forget that offering low prices come at a cost. If it requires generating enough revenue on Thanksgiving so that “little Johnny” can enjoy Tickle-Me-Elmo for $10 less, I ask again – where’s the crime?

What’s more, there is a lot of good that Walmart does for which it gets very little credit – including being one of the country’s largest tax payers while offering jobs and providing American workers with opportunities that they otherwise might not have had. So is opening on Thanksgiving really that egregious after all? I think it is safe to say that there are bigger travesties in the world of business. So can we for now shelve the constant hypocrisy on this issue – at least until Christmas?

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I do not agree with calling the author names. Nor do I agree with his article. I don’t believe Wal-Mart is evil either. I do believe, though, that it is disrespectful to the employees to take holiday time away from them. Where does it end? They were open at 10pm last year and now this year 8pm.

It’s not just pay that keeps an employee in any company doing their job. Moral has a big part to play as well. If you erode things like Thanksgiving away, you’re hurting moral. The happier your employees are, the better work they do. Every one needs to recharge their batteries now and again.

Sigh. The author’s overly simplistic of the world is sad. Maybe he should throw on a smock and work at Wal-Mart on one of the most abusive and dangerous days of the year before writing so callously. http://www.themotleynews.com/2012/11/nothing-is-sacred-not-even-labor-rights.html

It’s not a simplistic view but a realistic view. There is nothing sad about accepting personal responsibility. This situation is evidence that the decisions we make early in life have long-term implications. This is an opportunity to reinforce the importance of education, not hate those who have more than us and therefore think they owe us something. That’s the wrong message to send to young people.

You and I have some fundamental differences that probably can’t be hashed out in this forum. There isn’t too much more to say, considering so many others have already said what I have.

But I will say: It really is sad to see the lack of empathy in this piece. You never know what kind of tragic event will befall you; what terrible catalyst will drive you into the arms of Wal Mart (or companies like it). Even with the best education and the best breeding, sometimes shit happens and you have to work for Wal Mart. And when you do, you’d hope someone out there has the courage to stand for *your* rights.

Sometimes this idea of “personal responsibility” is just another way to say: “I got mine, don’t worry ’bout his.” I hope you’re never in the position where you are left without the choices you defend so heartily, since being poor goes hand in hand with being powerless. Good luck with future writing at Forbes!

Charish, I think that’s a bit unfair. I don’t think I have been insensitive at all. Although this article focuses on Walmart but it really addresses the bigger picture of “redirecting blame.” I understand that there are situations where someone has absolutely fallen on hard times and Walmart might be the only job available. But can we agree that they are responsible for the choices they make *after* they get the job? It’s also a certain type of mindset. If you were unhappy while you were filling out the application, chances are you will be unhappy after you are hired. I also appreciate that there are some who have started working at Walmart and have done quite well for themselves because they worked hard. Walmart or any other low paying job is not a death sentence. What you put in sometimes reflects what you get back. In that instance, personal responsibility is still valid.

What is this “abuse” everyone is talking about?? Having to work on holidays? That’s abuse?? Abuse would be to have to work holidays for normal pay. Instead, they offer time-and-a-half. And, it’s only abuse if Wal*Mart has people work on a holiday, but stores like Raley’s, Safeway, Target, K-Mart, and any other retail/grocery stores are off the hook?

Is it abuse to the employee to have to work on a holiday, even though they’re told in the interview, as well as in the nifty little employee handbooks they get? Forewarning is now considered abuse?

And what about the fact that, on average, Wal*Mart pays their employees $.80 to $2 more per employee than other “greedy” giants like Target and K-Mart? Oh yeah… that doesn’t matter, because Target & K-Mart can’t offend. Even though both of those companies were teetering on bankruptcy a handful of years back and not Wal*Mart. That must be Wal*Mart’s fault as well.

And let’s not forget that Target actually sells more items made in China and India than Wal*Mart does. Ooh… another nifty little fact that always gets left out… but oh no… Target’s allowed, Wal*Mart isn’t.

And I can safely bet all you Wallyworld naysayers shop at Costco, a business that has pretty much the same damn business model as Wal*Mart. Acquire goods at a lower price so that you can turn and sell those goods lower than anyone else. Yet Costco’s good, Wal*Mart’s bad.

The main thing people do no realize when they push Mom and Pops stores is called bulk buying. Walmart is notorious for it. The fact they work people on holidays, is not any difference then any other company. You are right no one forced them to work, but the Economy did.

Sam Walton, who built Walmart, would flip over in the grave about the way this company does its business. You very rarely see an American products. Mostly from countries that have poor labor practices and wages.

Dustin, Sam Walton’s heirs are still alive and I don’t recall any of them denouncing Walmart’s business practices. So I’m going to respectfully say that perhaps you don’t know what Sam Walton would be doing at this point. Your claim suggesting that Walmart is “notorious” for buying in bulk, which allows it to then offer lower prices to the consumer is misguided. Is that not a benefit to shoppers everywhere? Also, what is so special about mom and pop shops in the first place. How many of them do you suppose went in to business wanting to stay as a “mom and pop?”

Many of them would tell you that they were inspired by Sam Walton and what he was able to accomplish. But then again, not everyone one of them are able to make the necessary decisions to grow their business the way that they hoped. And as someone earlier pointed out, Walmart does not put mom and pops out of business, we the consumers do by not shopping there because the competition, whether from Walmart or another source offered us better value for our dollar. As a consumer is that not the objective when shopping? Yet Walmart is evil for granting this to us. It’s hypocritical…